Did I really go to pharmacy school for this?

  So tonight was extremely busy after about 4 o'clock. No surprise there. I just wonder, how is it that things can be almost normal when all of a sudden everything collapses?  Tonight everyone wanted to wait, and of course my tech complies with 15 minute wait times for everyone.  Then a medicaid patient comes in for his 20 day Lortab supply that he gets every month with a prescription written for 30 days.  So I am forced to talk to his doctor who says, "well I changed the sig... Man that is a lot of meds, I wonder why he is getting so many...." WOW!  I couldn't make this up if I wanted to.  Then, to top it all off, he says "he is supposed to be going through rehab or something." Yet you continue to supply him, and wonder why he is getting so many Lortabs.  I don't know..... maybe because you keep giving them to him. Just a guess.
  
   All the while I hear everyone that checks out saying, "no this is supposed to be a 90 day..." or "this isn't what the doctor called in..." or "wasn't there another prescription with this.." as my techs scramble to answer their questions.
 
   Needless to say, I was stressed.  Then 3 people show up to get flu shots.  Now I have a policy that we don't give flu shots during our peak hours of 4 pm to 8 pm.  Somehow, one of our employees told them that we give them until 7pm.  Or at least that was their understanding, or so I found out as they stormed off saying that they will never come back. The cherry on top of the sundae came from a patient that is a frequenter of the establishment.  She asked about her prescriptions, but made her true intentions clear by saying "is one of those hydrocodone?"

I am really going to lose it one day.  I mean I already say things that I shouldn't when people are around, and I feel myself getting closer and closer to losing my cool with some innocent old lady (or whoever happens to be there at the right time).  So I truly think that this begs the question.... "Did I really go to pharmacy school for this?"

What a horrible, horrible state this profession is in.  Now I truly think that God has a reason for me to be here, and that things will all work out eventually, but I can't help to wonder what I would have done differently if I had read all of the blogs of the disgruntled pharmacists out there.  Actually I know what I would have done differently, I wouldn't have gone into this career. It's too much, and not in the good way that you think of when someone asks "how would you like a career that challenges you. 

As a former bright-eyed, ambitious young person with delusions of grandeur, I implore all of you seeking to enter the field of pharmacy to reconsider.  At least, at least, do not let yourself be roped into this maniacal world that we call retail pharmacy.  It will suck the life out of you.  Seriously, just knowing that I went out and got a doctorate degree to be the keeper of pills is enough to drive me crazy.  Especially when I can hardly get away with telling some pill-head that they can't have their medications, just to have their doctor call and make it legal somehow.

Anyway, happy studying.